Tougher ag-gag bill is withdrawn; milder version may get a vote

6:02 PM,
Apr. 26, 2013

Secretly taking videos or photos that make a business look bad would be a crime, with no defense even for a person who turned those images over to law enforcement, under the toughest version of Senate Bill 373 that was being debated Friday.

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House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, withdrew the so-called "ag-gag bill" from a House vote, killing a sweeping version of the bill that had just passed the Senate, 29-21.

Bosma pulled the bill after about 45 minutes of debate in the House in which Democrats and even one Republican lawmaker said the changes in the bill expanded it beyond videos and photos and made almost anything that could hurt a business off limits - including a person texting out damaging information about a restaurant or a nursing home.

Bosma said he did so to force the Senate to concur on an earlier version that the ...